Nola became the first Tigers (42-6, 18-5 SEC) pitcher to throw four straight complete games since Mike Sirotka in 1993. Nola allowed four hits and one walk while striking out three Florida (25-23, 12-12 SEC) batters.

In his last four outings, Nola (9-0) has allowed a combined four runs while striking out 31 opposing hitters.

Friday's victory also marked head coach Paul Mainieri's 300th career win at LSU, as he improved his record to 300-128-2 in seven seasons at the helm of the Fighting Tigers program.

LSU and Florida will face off in the series finale at noon today. The game will air on ESPN2 and the LSU Sports Radio Network.

"Aaron gave us another tremendous performance; the conditions definitely weren't great for offense, and I think that helped him go the distance," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. "He didn't have to run up his pitch count too high by striking out a lot of batters; the conditions allowed him to pitch to contact and let his defense make plays behind him. He was at 94 pitches going into the ninth inning, so we decided to let him finish, but we weren't going to let him go much longer. An RBI groundout from second baseman JaCoby Jones gave LSU a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Designated hitter Sean McMullen delivered an RBI double in the fifth frame to double the Tigers' lead. Outfielder Mark Laird added another run in the inning on an RBI groundout to second, putting LSU ahead 3-0.

In the eighth inning, outfielder Andrew Stevenson beat out a ground ball to short, adding two more insurance runs.

"I didn't think we had a great night offensively," Mainieri said, "but that was mainly due to the wind blowing in and the cold temperatures. We're capable of doing more, and we're looking forward to another opportunity (today)."

Florida starting left-hander Bobby Poyner (2-2) suffered the loss, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks.

SAM HOUSTON STATE 10,

NICHOLLS STATE 0

At Huntsville, Texas, already trailing by two runs, a three-run fourth inning by the Sam Houston State Bearkats proved costly and opened the floodgates propelling the home side to a 10-0 series opening win over the Nicholls State University baseball team Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville in eight innings.

Sam Houston State (29-17, 13-6 in the Southland Conference) pounded out 13 hits over the course of the game and had nine hits through four innings, battering Nicholls (23-23, 6-13 in the SLC) starter Mike Suk (1-6) to the tune of five runs on nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts in the loss.

The Bearkats got runs in the first and third inning on an RBI single by Kevin Miller and a solo home run from Anthony Azar to give Sam Houston a 2-0 lead, with Azar bringing in the second of three runs in the fourth in a four-hit inning to take its 5-0 lead.

The Colonels had just four hits in the contest, with Keith Cormier having the only extra base hit with a double in the top of the fourth. Nicholls got a runner in scoring position in all but three of the innings on the night, but got just one to third for the length of the contest as Andrew Godail (5-2) maintained the shutout in his seven innings of work with six strikeouts.

First pitch for Gamd 2 is set for 4 p.m. today at Sanders Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.

— Nicholls Sports Information

Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.